A CHRISTMAS pudding-flavoured KitKat is due to be launched later this year.

Nestl also announced a lime-flavoured version of the top-selling chocolate bar.

The latest additions are designed to reverse falling sales of KitKat, made at a Nestl factory in York, which fell by more than nine per cent last year, according to figures from trade magazine The Grocer.

Nestl has already launched a limited-edition lemon and yoghurt-flavoured KitKat along with a low-carb variety.

The company has quoted figures from analyst ACNielsen showing sales rose by ten per cent in the past eight weeks.

The lime white chocolate KitKats will be sold in a four-finger pack, while the milk chocolate Christmas pudding variety will come in two-finger multi-packs. Both are due to go sale in October.

Confectionery group Cadbury recently announced a rival to Nestl's KitKat bar when it unveiled a new product called Dairy Milk Wafer.

Nestl then said it was bringing out a chocolate bar called Blue Label to take on Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Jon Lambert, marketing manager for KitKat, told trade publication The Grocer: "We are the only confectionery company being daring in innovation and trying new and exciting flavours."

The company announced in February that it was launching a lemon cheesecake-flavoured KitKat.